Tribal Nationalism and the Challenges for Conflict Resolution

Tribal Nationalism and the Challenges for Conflict Resolution Ismael Muvingi The postmodern era witnessed a turn towards civic nationalism and ideas of universality at the same time as there was increase in socio-economic disparities, uncertainty, and discontent both within and between states. While globalization ushered in global interconnectivity, national borders became even more fortified especially in the wealthier nations and tribal nationalism emerged, drawing narrower lines for ingroup inclusion with visible hostility to “outsiders”. Tribal nationalism is identification premised on a singular unit of belongingness that claims exclusionary legitimacy to retain power (political, economic, social) in a nation. It promises security, a sense of belonging and comfort for insiders in return for loyalty and unquestioning, unwavering allegiance. Propagators of tribal nationalism marshal the re-establishment of an imagined ideal past as the goal, and pursue it unrestrained by pre-existing principles, ethics or agreed truths. The phenomenon is most visible in the United States, but it has manifested too in Poland, Italy, Turkey, Austria, Brazil, India, Hungary, and the United Kingdom. Tribal nationalism crystallizes a polarity of groups. There is an ever-growing population of have-nots, an increase of skepticism over the promises of liberal peace, democracy and capitalist economics, and a countering through defensiveness, exclusion and hostility from groups that define themselves as entitled to their worlds. It is a monumental challenge for the field of conflict resolution. This paper is a thematic analysis across multiple cases of tribal nationalism in an effort to understand the etiology and impacts of the mobilization of tribal nationalism, its politics of narrow inclusion, division and exclusion, and the attendant challenges for conflict resolution and peacebuilding in the context of collapsed political centers and polarizing contradictions